A group of researchers has published “GEDTM30”1 a new high-resolution2 DTM3 of global extent. GEDTM30 has 1 arcsecond spatial resolution, which is about 30 meters.
A pre-print4 (currently) describes the production method:
Copernicus DEM, ALOS World3D, and object height models were combined in a data fusion approach to generate a globally consistent DTM. (…) A global-to-local transfer learning model framework with 5°×5° tiling leveraged globally distributed lidar datasets: ICESat-2 ATL08 (…) and GEDI02 (…). A global model was initially fitted using ICESat-2 and GEDI, followed by locally optimized models per tile, ensuring both global consistency and local accuracy.
Also interesting: The DTM itself is accompanied by 15 geomorphometric parameters computed by the researchers at six spatial scales (30, 60, 120, 240, 480 and 960 meters):
- Difference from Mean Elevation
- Geomorphons
- LS Factor
- Maximal Curvature
- Minimal Curvature
- Negative Openness
- Positive Openness
- Profile Curvature
- Ring Curvature
- Shape Index
- Slope in Degree
- Specific Catchment Area
- Spherical Standard Deviation of the Normals
- Tangential Curvature
- Topographic Wetness Index
The data is published under a CC-BY license through Zenodo and the OpenLandMap STAC5. The data format is Cloud-optimized GeoTIFF. The pre-print has more information regarding the data quality.
Footnotes
“GEDTM” stands for “Global ensemble digital terrain model”.↩︎
For global coverage, 30 meter is considered high-resolution.↩︎
Digital terrain model, that is a model of the “bare earth” elevations of the Earth’s surface.↩︎
That is, a scientific publication that has not yet been peer-reviewed.↩︎
SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog↩︎